oakum
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of oakum
before 1000; Middle English okome, Old English ācuma, variant of ācumba, literally, offcombings, equivalent to ā- separative prefix ( see a- 3) + -cumba ( see comb)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
You often could still smell the oakum oil-soaked hemp used to pack the joints before they poured the molten lead to make the joints watertight.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 22, 2021
Some days before my release Martin was going the rounds at half-past seven with one of the senior warders for the purpose of collecting the oakum and tools of the prisoners.
From Slate • Jun. 16, 2018
The poop deck is being repaired traditionally, using wooden planks caulked with cotton and oakum then sealed with pitch.
From New York Times • May 29, 2016
He smelled the tar and oakum of the deck as he slept and he smelled the smell of Africa that the land breeze brought at morning.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
He even smelled right—like oakum and wood shavings.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
